Assignment/Homework/Project Emergency

[Cottontofu]

Before creating this thread I made sure there was no thread of the same type (there's the school one, but here it's about providing help). If mods question its existence please tell me.

This topic is for feedbacks and help on any academic assignment: essays, presentations... Or even covering letters. And it can be any subject: Literature, Computer Science, History... Since some members of ItL are students I thought it might help.

I'll start by asking you some feedback about my oral presentation on cross cultural management. I'm supposed to speak for about 10 minutes (I won't be alone), and keep things short. Can you tell me if my English is correct in my script or if there are any inconsistencies?


2- Cross cultural management in practice

For obvious reasons I chose to focus on multinational corporations for my research, where the odds of finding people with different cultures working together is higher than elsewhere.

a- How it is used and why

Most companies, who assumed their management methods would work abroad, experienced failure the hard way. There are several styles of management (autocratic, paternalist, democratic…) in different countries, or how a manager interacts with his coworkers and employees, with different sources of power (charisma, expertise…).

For example British workers would adopt participative management methods when it comes to taking decisions, but value expertise in negotiations.

The main reason for choosing these styles of management is because they match the values they chose for their company, based on their experiences or history of their country. But when it comes to manage a team of workers from different cultures, the same methods can’t be used twice without considering other factors, like their vision of work and values.

For example the CEO of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, understood the importance of taking these cultural differences into account by swapping staff from both companies and building cross cultural teams. As a result workers from either Renault or Nissan had to learn French or Japanese to improve communication between them.

b- Training

There are several levels of training to cross cultural management.

The first level is language: it’s obviously essential to understand your partners and be understood by them while working on a project. The more you spend time with them and learn expressions from common speech, the more natural you will sound while talking to each other. Your efforts at learning their native language do mean a lot because it’s a sign of interest in their culture and openness, your coworkers will trust you more.

The second one is business, which implies training to international negotiation, internationalization, acquisition and joint venture management. It’s mainly about how to handle business situations in an international context and be more aware of stakes and tactics it implies. Attitude with local authorities and coworkers is critical to succeed abroad.

Then we come to the third one: management! Whether it comes to stress, time, anticipation, conflict, team management, problem solving or dealing with changes, it’s important to adapt your style of management by taking into account the cultural differences between you and your coworkers.

The last level is also important: knowing the cultural context where you’ll work (history, values, expectations, how they see work, lifestyle…) will prevent you from offending your coworkers without realizing it.

The aim of this training is multiple: keeping harmony in the team, being more considerate, increasing emotional and mental stamina, being able to think outside the box, cultural adaptation, and making managers more competitive and outstanding… It’s also a response to internationalization, with a more empirical approach of the corporate world.

There are several reasons to adopt CCM training: prevent cross cultural risks thus failure, limit frustration therefore cultural shock, be accepted by coworkers and make sure they work together, have new experiences…

Recently, we can witness an increasing number of companies which provide this type of training. For example the French company Akteos provides training to big French groups such as the game developer Ubisoft.


Conclusion : To conclude, we can say that cross cultural management is essential to survive in a world where globalization prevails. Companies did understand it by providing special training to managers who will have to work with people from different cultures, with their own point of view of the corporate world.

I will finish on this quote: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” (F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-up, short stories)

[Cottontofu]

Thanks, it sounds better than I would do, for the last one I thought about "This quote sums up pretty well the mental flexibility required for cross cultural management". But it may seem too long...

[Cottontofu]

[Trifkin]

[Reynard-Miri]

[Cottontofu]

Sorry I took some time to respond, thank you so much guys for your feedbacks, it really helped me to improve my statement of purpose^^

Btw I have more chances to study in the US, I just received my scores for the TOEFL, 96 on a total of 120^^ Here are the different parts of the test:
Reading: 26
Listening: 25
Speaking: 20
Writing: 25

[Trifkin]

: O That's awesome! I knew you could do it, Cottonbutt! *does a cheesy victory dance while chanting "go Cotton, go Cotton"*

[zamisk]

It's a vicious cycle. I always call Trifkin Trifbutt.

[noodles]

i'm still getting used to not calling zamisk asshole

[zamisk]

(I think he resents the years of being called Noobles)

[Fluffernuff]

I don't think i've called anyone anything. and the same for you guys to me.
therefore this post is pointless. therefore it is mine. thus is...perfection. mine. and pointless


...where was i going with this again?

[CD-Man2021]

[zamisk]

Uh

[CD-Man2021]

I-it's an internet meme thing, I swear!

[Cottontofu]